It wasn’t able to fire high explosive shells and was totally out-classed and out-ranged by German guns. But by 1942 its 40mm/2-pounder gun was obsolete. As such it was slow but well-armoured, with 65-mm thick frontal armour.

The Valentine was an ‘infantry tank’, designed to accompany the infantry in the assault in line with British pre-war doctrine. Most Allied crews regarded the M13/40 as a deathtrap.

The frontal armour thickness of 30mm was inadequate by the standards of late-1942 and also had the disadvantage of being bolted on in some areas, a potentially lethal arrangement for crew members when the tank was hit. Powered by a Fiat diesel engine, it was reliable but slow. The M13/40 was best tank available to the Italian Army in 1940 but by 1942 it was totally outclassed by the latest British and American designs. The Italians had only the one design, while the Germans relied on their Mark III and Mark IV, which, unlike earlier British tanks, had been designed from the outset to accommodate upgrades in armour thickness and gun power. The Allied tank strength at the Second Battle of El Alamein was composed of a profusion of designs as a result of the coming together of British and American production plans.

Greatest tank battles el alamein